Pre-shaped cloth convolutes for a pressurized suit

ABSTRACT

ONE OR MORE ARCUATE PIECES OF FLAT CLOTH ARE SEWN TOGETHER TO FORM A FRUSTO CONE, TWO FRUSTO CONES BEING SEWN TOGETHER AT THEIR LARGE ENDS FROM A PRE-SHAPED CONVOLUTE. A PLURALITY OF PRE-SHAPED CONVOLUTES ARE SEWN TOGETHER SO AS TO FORM A CONVOLUTE SECTION OF A PRESSURIZED SUIT.

Feb. 23, 1971 M. A. MARRONI. JR, ETAL 3,564,510

PRE'SHAPED CLOTH CONVOLUTES FOR A PRESSURIZED SUIT Filed Dec. 20, 1968 F/G./ FIG. 2

INVE NTORS MICHAEL A. MAM JR. DOUGLAS E. GETCHELL JOHN J. KORABOWSKI ATTOR NEY United States Patent 3,564,610 PRE-SHAPED CLOTH CONVOLUTES FOR A PRESSURIZED SUIT Michael A. Marroni, Jr., Weatogue, and Douglas E.

Getchell, Windsor Locks, Conn., and John J. Korabowski, Springfield, Mass., assignors to United Aircraft' Corporation, East Hartford, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 20, 1968, Ser. No. 785,602 Int. Cl. A62b 17/00 US. Cl. 2-2.1 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of invention This invention relates to pressurized suits, and more particularly to pre-shaped cloth convolutes therefor.

Description of the prior art It is known in the art that pressurized suits such as those used in high altitude aviation and space exploration may be comprised of molded rubber or of restraint cloth capable of withstanding pressure necessary within the suit in order to neutralize the natural pressure exerted from within the body of the wearer. The more recently designed pressurized suits of a good construction include at least a number of convolute sections formed of restraint cloth. In the prior art, the convolutes in various sections of the suit formed of cloth are in fact fabricated by manufacturing a generally cylindrical section, such as an arm or a leg, and then causing this section to be subdivided into convolutes by the application of rigid rings or root cords which cause the smallest diameter of the member to be less than the natural diameter of the cloth cylinder of which the member is comprised. This causes the formation of convolutes.

It has been found that convolutes formed as a result of root restraint at selected positions of a basically cylindrical cloth structure do not have well defined break points when under pressure, and are frequently not stable under pressure. That is, the amount of torque required to bend it is high and may vary from one direction to another; also, after a plurality of bending operations, the material at the root of the convolutes may shift to the side opposite to the direction of bending flexing. Instability in the convolutes also means that the convolute sections tend to shear. That is, one convolute tends to slip sideways, out of any generally axial alignment with the other convolutes, which can result in difficulty in maintaining that portion of the suit in a proper position, and can result in low mobility or high torque. Further, when shearing is of a sufficiently severe nature, it can result in applying points of pressure to the wearer of the suit, which causes extreme discomforture. Considering a series of convolutes formed in a generally cylindrical cloth member, it is often difficult to establish well defined break points so as to make it easier to flex the section of the pressurized suit in response to normal motions of the wearer. For instance, if one were to consider a shoulder which has a wide and varying motion requirement, convolutes made by applying root cords to a cylindrical or ice I tapered cylindrical section do not support the required motion without excess fatigue of the wearer.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a system of forming convolutes from a flat piece of cloth which results in well defined convolutes when pressurized with pronounced break points at the roots, and a convolute system capable of optimal use in omni-directional joints.

It has now been found that convolute sections made without root cords are more stable, and provide better control over break points. According further to the present invention, a plurality of cloth truncated cones are sewn together so as to form pre-shaped convolutes; the truncated cone sections are made of one or more arcuate pieces of fiat cloth.

The present invention permits the manufacture of a three-dimensional convolute system from two-dimensional material. A system in accordance with the present invention can be adjusted by careful design of pitch, height and angle to provide optimized degrees of range and/or torque in a given section of a pressurized suit. The convolutes in accordance with the present invention provide a pressurized suit section which is completely omni-directional when isolated from external plug load restraints, and which, when coupled with an omni-directional plug load restraint remains omni-directional in nature. The convolutes in accordance with the present invention are inherently stable, and eliminate the need for mechanical convolute root restraints.

Still further, the present invention provides positively shaped convolutes, even when the convolutes are of a very small size, in contrast with root restrained convolutes I which must be of a significant size in order to assume a convoluted shape. The convolutes in accordance herewith are stable because the varied shape of the cloth itself causes the formation of well defined convolutes as a result of pressure within the pressurized suit of which the convolutes comprise at least a portion.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in the light of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a section of a pressurized suit formed of pre-shaped convolutes in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are plan views of pieces of fiat cloth utilized to construct the pre-shaped convolutes in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a pre-shaped convolute formed of several sections of cloth of the type illustrated in FIG. 3, in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1, a section of a pressurized suit may comprise a plurality of convolutes 6 sewn together at their small diameters such as by seams 7. Each of the convolutes 6 may be made up of two pieces of cloth 8, as is illustrated in FIG. 2. Each piece is preferably sewn together such that a first end 9 is sewn to a second end 10 and then the large diameter edge 18 of both of the resulting frusto conical piece is sewn to the large diameter edge 18 of a similar, sewn-together frusto conical piece. On the other hand, each of the convolutes 6 may comprise two frusto cones formed of two smaller flat arcuate pieces of cloth 12 as illustrated in FIG. 3. These pieces are preferably sewn together such that a first end 14 of one piece is sewn to a second end 16 of another piece, and the first end 14 of the other piece is sewn to the second end 16 of the first piece. Then the large diameter edges 18 of two resulting frusto cones are sewn together so as to form a convolute 6. This is illustrated in FIG. 4 wherein each of four pieces a, b, c and d are shown sewn together to form a single basic convolute. A system of convolutes is formed (as in FIG. 1) by sewing the small diameter edges 20 of one complete convolute (as shown in FIG. 4) to another complete convolute. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the basic convolute may be sewn together in such a fashion that the juncture of the pieces a and b is olfset from the juncture of the pieces and d, thereby to distribute the bias eifects of the restraint material around the overall convolute.

Because of the fact that the cloth inherently forms a convoluted shape, and the cloth is restraint cloth (and is therefore capable of restraining tensile forces of the size encountered within a pressurized suit), no hoop load restraint in addition to that of the cloth and the seams need be provided, and therefore, root cords are entirely eliminated. One example of the usage of pre-shaped convolutes in accordance herewith is found in a co-pending application of the same assignee entitled Lower Shoulder for a Pressurized Suit, Ser. No. 785,606, filed Dec. 20, 1968, by John C. Hardy and James F. Wilber III. Other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the space suit art.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and omissions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

Having thus described typical embodiments of our invention, that which we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a pressurized suit, a pre-shaped fabric convolute comprising:

a pair of frusto cones, each of said frusto cones comprising a plurality of pieces of fabric having ends joined together forming seams substantially parallel with the axis of the frusto cone, said pair of fabric frusto cones joined together at their large diameter edges with the frusto cones oriented so that the seams joining the fabric in one of said frusto cones are circumferentially displaced from the seams joining the fabric in the other of said frusto cones.

2. In a pressurized suit, a fabric convolute section comprising a sequence of fabric frusto cones, alternate ones of said frusto cones being of opposite axial orientation, each of said frusto cones comprising a plurality of pieces of fabric having ends joined together forming seams which are substantially parallel with the axis of the frusto cone, adjacent ones of said frusto cones being joined together small diameter edge to small diameter edge and large diameter edge to large diameter edge, respectively, and adjacent ones of said frusto cones being oriented so that the seam joining the fabric pieces of each one of said frusto cones are circumferentlally displaced from the seams joining the fabric of each adjacent one of said frusto cones.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,318 5/1915 Wheelock 2192 1,795,266 3/1931 Smith 285226 2,989,324 6/1961 OI-Ialloran 2-2.1X 3,006,662 10/1961 Katsuhara l38-121X JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner G. H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 285-226 

